Thank You - Alaska Safety Alliance

April 7th 2020
By: Carrie Parashar

Many of us are lucky enough to work from home during this time of COVID-19. Although many of us do feel lucky, I use the word lucky loosely thinking of co-worker’s who have multiple family members at home with them. Many of them being sticky and short and wanting more attention than typically demanded, but all of them safe and making it day to day, no matter how “DONE with this!” everyone wants to be.

We handle the day to day and keep going, because many of us don’t have a choice. Even with all the sticky fingers and dog noses trying to interrupt our “new normal”, the work continues. Alaska Safety Alliance is in the business of getting Alaskans to work with the knowledge they need to stay safe on the job. Admittedly, we are all facing some challenges right now, with telecommuting to work. The logistics, the IT support (a shout out to Arctic IT who keeps us running every day! You guys are amazing!), the stress of working at home, often both parents at the same time, and never being able to get your kids to understand why you are home but so distracted.

My words of encouragement to all the stay at home workers….keep going. It will end!

But what about those workers that physically must go to their place of work? The grocers, the mailpersons, the pilots, the truck drivers delivering all the essential goods to keep the rest of us functioning, doctors, nurses and volunteers. These workers, and so very many more, are the reason many of us are able to practice social distancing and telecommute from home. They allow us to follow the stay in place “hunker down” orders we have received from our state and local government. These workers are providing us with a feeling of certainty in uncertain times. Preschool teachers and janitors have become heroes, not that they didn’t deserve the title before COVID-19.

This is my thank you, for all that you do to keep us all moving forward.

As we continue to support Alaska’s workforce through ever changing circumstances, please remember, as change occurs in our workplace, so do hazards. Many of those hazards, however, are the same as they always were. Those hazards have not vanished, they’ve simply been overshadowed by the clear and obvious COVID-19.

Please remember to stay safe, how you have always stayed safe, by clearly communicating, pre-planning and performing diligent hazard recognition and mitigation practices.

Please stay safe, and healthy, and remember that safe practices and diligence are key for all workers, and everyone relying on those workers.

To learn more about how to keep your workplace safe during these challenging times please visit:
https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/safework